Dogs Today Magazine March 2009

‘Wanna-be’ Deerhound owners should pick up a copy of Dogs Today Magazine, March 2009, for an acceptable little taster article on our breed.

The eight pages featuring deerhounds have good quality images and a fair representation of deerhound traits, facts as well as a brief history.

We would however, contest the response to the ‘Does the coat mat?’ question by suggesting ‘No’ as an answer to be somewhat fanciful. ‘Yes, if a complete brushing is not undertaken at least once a week.’ would be more accurate, as the soft undercoat tends to knot and tangle if neglected.

We do have one ‘MAJOR’ gripe within the article and that would be, under the Touch of Tartan heading, where the paragraph begins with ‘The defeat of the Scottish by the English at the Battle of Culloden in 1745 radically changed the political landscape of Scotland and put an end to such extravagent displays of power by Highland chieftains.’

Er? . . . the history was not quite so clear cut as the above nonsense. The Culloden event mentioned, involved two collectives of mixed European armies. Both sides included Scots and English amongst their ranks. The Irish, Italian, French, Germans and others were also involved on the battlefield. The defeated forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie were fighting to restore the Stewarts to the throne of the United Kingdom, a union that their dynasty had created. The Hanoverians were fighting to maintain a control of the throne on behalf of the German House of Hanover under George the II.

The tragic aftermath of the battle may infact be one of the contributing factors as to why the ‘Scottish’ is no-longer included in the ‘Deerhound’ breed name within the UK. Many things Scottish were outlawed in the follow up to the event, Plaid, Bagpipes, Claymores, Dirks, Gaelic Language etc. And an unsavoury ethnic cleansing followed, in which the revulsive flaying alive of Highland men, Burning of villages, slaughter of livestock, division of families and selling of children into slavery to name but a few of the war crimes were perpetrated under the orders of The Duke of Cumberland earning him the nickname the Butcher.

Highland Chieftains still existed at this time in the form of the Hanoverian supporters. Many of the Jacobeans were later pardoned into service along with their highland troops under the condition they were to be shipped to other lands in military service, to forge what would grow to become The British Empire.

There’s much more to it than this simplified overview, and like many, having family that fought on both sides during this conflict, we felt obliged to correct the little Dogs Today error, lest we lose the truth through misinterpretation by such publications.

Anyway enough of the history, growler head - go out and fetch a copy of the wee magazine and enjoy it anyway.